The
Mary E. Pitney House Museum was built in 1874 and was always the home of
Marcellus and Anna (Hollis) Pitney and their family. Mary Pitney who was
born in the house, gifted the house to Junction City Historical Society to
be used as a museum. She died in 1995 at age 104. Many hours of
restoration made the house ready to be opened to the public in 1998. The
front parlor is furnished with Mary’s original furniture in the Eastlake
style. One room has been set up as “A Danish Room in an American House”. A
cutaway section in the kitchen lets visitors see how buildings were
constructed in that time period. Most of the plantings, including the
grape vines on a new arbor have been on the homesite for years.

In 1998 Junction City's
first jail was identified in another part of town and was moved to the
Pitney property near the house. It, too, has had hours of restoration and
is open to the public when the museum is open..

About Mary Pitney...

Mary, about age 22

Mary in
her yard, mid-1960's. Dressed for Festival.

Mary Pitney (1891-1995) was
the granddaughter of pioneers John and Elizabeth Pitney, who came by
covered wagon over the Oregon trail and settled on a donation land claim
just west of Junction City in 1853. The original land claim on Pitney
Lane is still owned by family descendants. Mary's house was originally
built as a town house for railroad workers. She was born and raised in
the house and lived the later years of her life here. She was a school
teacher, published poet, world traveler, and a humanitarian. She
cherished her pioneer heritage, her town, the Scandinavian Festival, her
church, and garden, and her many friends of all ages. She loved to sing
and paint and used her many creative talents to furnish her home much
like a museum and gallery. Upon her death at age 104, she bequeathed her
home to the Junction City Historical Society. She was one of the
founding members of the Junction City Museum, and requested that her
house be used to display artifacts overflowing from the Museum.